In January 2020 we began asking speakers for permission to share their slides with our members and in May 2020 we began streaming luncheon talks to our members via Zoom. We stopped Zoom streaming after April 2023. We have posted the Zoom streams to Youtube where they are available to Branch 35 members. A PDF file listing speakers and topics from that time period provides access to those talks.
2024
March 20, 2024
Martha Wallace is a retired middle school teacher. She always wanted to be a docent in a castle in England, but the commute was too long, so she now volunteers at Rengstorff House, the oldest house in Mountain View. She also volunteers at the National Archives in San Bruno. She enjoys studying medieval and American history, connecting her ancestors to actual events, and exploring local history. In 2021, she led the Los Altos DAR to compile and edit The Early Settlers of Old Los Altos/Mountain View, a clickable PDF (free download at http://tinyurl.com/48nfm8td).
Rengstorff House at Shoreline in Mountain View
Did you know that Mountain View was a bustling port in the late 1800s? In 1850 Henry Rengstorff came from Germany looking for fortune in the California Gold Rush. Martha Wallace will share stories of Henry’s family, his success in Santa Clara County, the development of shipping on the Bay, and the port of Mountain View, and take you through the Rengstorff House, now a museum.
February 14, 2024
Dr. William (Bill) Durham
New from Galapagos: How the Booby Got Blue Feet
Blue-footed boobies attract their Valentines via colorful feet and
zany foot-based antics, as this illustrated slide talk will show. But
why all the attention to bright blue, a color rare in the animal
kingdom? Unraveling this enduring mystery sheds new light on the
origin of these crazy characters and helps us understand their
conservation plight today.
Bill Durham is Bing Professor in Human Biology, Emeritus, and
Yang and Yamazaki University Fellow, Emeritus, at Stanford
University. Bill’s career has focused on two main themes (1)
putting principles of evolution to work in understanding biological
and cultural diversity in the world today; and (2) analyzing the
social dimensions of contemporary environmental problems and
working with local people to help solve them. One of the first
recipients of the MacArthur Prize Fellowship, Bill has also received
five awards for research and teaching at Stanford, including one
by vote of the students. Bill’s most recent publication, Exuberant
Life: An Evolutionary Approach to Conservation in Galápagos
(2021), was awarded a silver medallion as Finalist for the 2022
PROSE Award from the Association of American Publishers. Bill
continues his role as a founding member of Stanford’s
sustainability initiative in the Osa and Golfito Region of Costa
Rica, and he is currently a Governing Member of the Charles
Darwin Foundation of the Galapagos Islands. Bill’s favorite
hobbies are photography, fossil collecting (which dates to
childhood), and cooking.
January 17, 2024
Dr. Michael Baker
Teaching Casualty Care in Ukraine
Dr. Baker will present a review of the history, geography, and politics leading up to the unjustifiable Russian Invasion of Ukraine. An explanation of what it is like to travel to Ukraine during the war, teaching Advanced Trauma Life Support (ATLS) to civilian and military
medical providers and Stop the Bleed (StB) to civilians. Dr Baker will explain the connection between the terrible crisis in Israel/Gaza and the Russians/Iranians who benefit greatly while everyone else loses. Caution, there will be some graphic photos and videos. Dr. Baker recently retired from a 40-year career in general surgery and trauma. He had a parallel career in the military that included qualifying in a warfare specialty, combat deployment with the Marines and strategic planning for both major conflicts and humanitarian emergencies. He retired with the rank of Rear Admiral and has numerous kudos including 3 Legion of Merit Awards and his
Combat Action Ribbons. He currently teaches Political Science and Military Affairs for the Osher Lifelong Learning (OLLI) Programs at UC Berkeley, Dominican University, and Cal State University East Bay, and is on the Board of Trustees of the Commonwealth
Club/World Affairs
2023
November 15, 2023
Dr. Linda Riebel
Why Love Opera? An Invitation
Linda Riebel, Ph.D., is the author of the book Irene Dalis: Diva, Impresaria, Legend and of the article on opera in the Encyclopedia of Creativity (3rd edition). She has been a member of the Friends of Opera San Jose since its founding in 2014 and served as its president for two years. A retired psychologist and adjunct professor, she played the harp professionally for 13 years and has given lectures on opera and Shakespeare.
This talk is Linda’s way of introducing this splendid art form to newcomers, and to those who are not technically “newbies” but who want to deepen their understanding of opera. She will briefly define opera, share some music, explain why to love opera, describe the different kinds of opera music and end up with easy steps for getting started as an opera admirer. The event will include a rich array of musical selections from opera comedies and tragedies recorded by the greatest singers of our era.
October 18, 2023
J. Campbell Scott
Climate Change: How do we know it is us?
In 1824 a French scientist and expert in heat flow concluded that the earth is much warmer than he expected. He suggested that there is something in the atmosphere that slows its rate of cooling, but he didn’t know what it might be. By the end of the 19th century the “something” had been identified as carbon dioxide and the relevant science was known well enough to allow a Swedish scientist to calculate the warming that it causes. This talk will highlight the scientists who solved the mystery, presenting their contributions in lay terms. The story continues, the heroes who gathered clues to support the prosecution and the villains supporting the defense who sought to spread doubt and confusion. J. Campbell Scott is a retired research scientist and educator. After retiring he was trained by former Vice President Al Gore and his team at the Climate Reality Project (CRP). He is a member of Silicon Valley Chapter of CRP where he serves as director of the Speakers’ Bureau with the role of educating the public about issues relating to climate change.
Campbell received his BSc in physics from St. Andrews University in Scotland and his PhD from the University of Pennsylvania. He taught physics at Cornell University before joining the IBM San Jose Research Laboratory (now IBM Research, Almaden). Dr. Scott has published more than 170 scientific papers and holds over 20 patents. He is a Fellow of the American Physical Society.
September 13, 2023
Supervisor Joe Simitian
Bridging the Divide — Hope for the Future
Supervisor Joe Simitian will share his thoughts, based on his own experiences, on why he believes there is a way to push through and past our current political & cultural polarization. Simitian represents the Fifth District which includes Cupertino, Los Altos, Los Altos Hills, Los Gatos, Monte Sereno, Mountain View, Palo Alto, Saratoga, Stanford, portions of San Jose and unincorporated communities in the Santa Cruz Mountains. He was elected to the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors in 2012 and reelected in 2016 and 2020. He previously served in the California State Senate and State Assembly.
August 16, 2023
Mark Cary
An American Volunteer in Ukraine
Mark Cary grew up in Pacifc Grove California and graduated from Stevenson School in 1985. He joined the Marine Corps and served in the Presidential Honor Guard in Washington DC, and as an infantry squad leader with the 6th Marine Regiment.
In 1993, he graduated from James Madison University in Virginia with a degree in political science and economics, with an emphasis on Soviet and Eastern European Studies. He joined the U. S. Border Patrol in 1994 and went on to serve on an intelligence team, and later commanded a special operations unit. He also served as the congressional liaison, and did a year on an officer exchange program with the US Coast Guard. Mark retired in 2017 and started a small business teaching self-defense and firearms fundamentals.
Mark has made five trips to Ukraine since the Russian invasion on February 24, 2022. He works as an independent volunteer with a variety of humanitarian organizations and military units. In today’s presentation Mark Cary will discuss the current state of affairs in the Russo-Ukraine war, and his experiences during his five trips there since the war began.
June 21, 2023
Professor Hank Greely
Weird Stuff: The Strangeness of Biology Meets the Templates of Law
Our culture and our law tends to like things simple, straightforward, and dichotomous: machine or organism, living or dead, human or not human, in a species or out of a species. But biology is usually much more complex and nuanced. Professor Greely will discuss several examples where we ask “what is that?”, wanting a clear answer that biology will not give, and ways in which our culture and our law might better deal with this complexity.
Henry T. (Hank) Greely is the Deane F. and Kate Edelman Johnson Professor of Law; Professor, by courtesy, of Genetics; and Director of the Center for Law and the Biosciences at Stanford University. He specializes in ethical, legal, and social issues arising from the biosciences, particularly genetics, neuroscience, stem cell research, and assisted reproduction. He is a founder and a past President of the International Neuroethics Society; chairs the California Advisory Committee on Human Stem Cell Research; and chairs the Ethical, Legal, and Social Issues Committee of the Earth BioGenome Project. For six years, until August 2022, he served on the NIH BRAIN Initiative’s Multi-Council Working Group while co-chairing the Initiative’s Neuroethics Work Group. He is the author of The End of Sex and the Future of Human Reproduction (Harvard Univ. Press 2016) and Crispr People: The Science and Ethics of Editing Humans (MIT Press 2021).
Greely graduated from Stanford in 1974 and Yale Law School in 1977. He served in the Departments of Defense and Energy in the Carter Administration and litigated at the Los Angeles firm of Tuttle & Taylor before joining the Stanford faculty in 1985.
May 17, 2023
John Lehman
A History of USA’s Music
John Lehman is a pioneer and serial entrepreneur in search software and technology. He began his musicology hobby-career in 1960 when he received a 1951 jukebox for his birthday which came with 100 records. Since 1960 he has turned that hobby into a collection of 600,000 records (78s, 45s, 33s), and four million digital songs, one of the world’s largest private song collections. It includes every song of every genre which reached any published popularity, covering 1890 to the present.
After researching how he remembers the songs and lyrics from his teen years, in December 2004, John played Christmas songs for a group of people in their 80s and 90s to see if they could remember who sang/played Christmas songs from the 1930s and 1940s. They knew every answer. That day began John’s career as an entertainer/vintage music therapist, provided to over 150 organizations in the Bay Area.
John developed an approach to memory therapy using vintage songs for groups of memory-challenged persons. Three years of research on over 50 persons in residential care showed that some memory areas did not decline when twice weekly vintage music sessions were provided. Examples of his work appear in the film “Alive Inside”, available in most libraries.
The “WhoSangIt” idea has also become a commercial business which provides every popular ranked song by calendar date and genre to businesses.
April 19, 2023
Jitze Couperus
Aerial Photos of the SF Bay
Jitze was born in Kenya and was conscripted into the British armed forces at 18 years old as a result of unrest in the neighboring Belgian Congo. After serving with the The Kings African Rifles, he ended up as a policeman, serving in various temporary posts within the colonial administration until Kenya too achieved independence. This included volunteering for missions as a pilot with the Air Wing of the Kenya Police Reserve, and the AMREF Flying Doctors service in Kenya. He subsequently trained in Britain for two years as an apprentice in a new profession – at that time referred to as “Computing Machinery” and conducted by the Government’s “Post Office Training School” in a small village called Bletchley located just North of London.
He worked for a British computer manufacturer, designing and installing mainframes in various countries in Africa and Europe. While working at one point in Holland, he was approached by an attaché at the American Embassy. This meeting resulted in his recruitment by Seymour Cray, the chief architect at that time for Control Data Corporation – the American company specialized in building the biggest and fastest computers in the world.
Jitze joined their Palo Alto-based Research Division in 1968. After working for this company for over three decades, he retired and has since been active in the Town of Los Altos Hills including stints as a Fire Commissioner and currently as a Planning Commissioner. In his talk he will show his aerial photographs of the Bay Area, taken with our own Gary Waldeck as pilot.
March 15, 2023
Alison Nordt, PhD Director of Space Science & Instrumentation at Lockheed Martin Advanced Technology Center
NIRCam: Near Infrared Camera on the James Webb Space Telescope
Dr. Alison Nordt is the Director for Space Science and Instrumentation at Lockheed Martin’s Advanced Technology Center. She is responsible for developing and operating missions that provide observational data to advance space science knowledge. Her work involves maturing technology to support current and future space-based telescopes and instruments. She is currently the Principal Investigator for TechMAST (Technology Maturation for Astrophysics Space Telescopes) and related internal research and development efforts.
Previously, Dr. Nordt was the senior manager for Astrophysics and held several leadership roles on the NIRCam (Near Infrared Camera for the Webb Telescope). She was responsible for the design, development, testing and delivery of the NIRCam instrument including optics, structures, mechanisms, electronics and software. She was also responsible for programmatic performance including cost and schedule execution and post-delivery support.
Dr. Nordt has an extensive engineering background in structures, opto-mechanical systems and instrument development including design, analysis and hands-on hardware experience through integration and test. She has diverse program management experience through the program lifecycle from capture through end item product delivery.
Dr. Nordt holds Ph.D. & M.S. degrees in Aeronautics and Astronautics from Stanford and a B.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering from Cornell. She is an AIAA Associate Fellow, a member of the International Academy of Astronautics and serves on the Board of the Planetary Science Institute.
February 15, 2023
Dr. Maureen O’Connor, President, Palo Alto University
Mental Health in the Workforce and Successful Aging
Maureen O’Connor, Ph.D., J.D. is the President of Palo Alto University (PAU) which specializes in Psychology and Counseling. Prior to joining PAU, Dr. O’Connor held multiple roles over 18 years at the City University of New York (CUNY). Dr. O’Connor completed a Ph.D. and J.D. in a dual degree program in psychology, law, and policy at the University of Arizona.
Prior to launching her academic career she clerked for the late Honorable Patricia Wald, then Chief Judge of the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals. An American Psychological Association (APA) Fellow, she has held numerous governance roles in APA, including Chair of the Task Force on Human Rights. She has been active in the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues (SPSSI/APA Division 9) for many years, including serving as its President. Recent work focused on evidence-based pedagogy development for doctoral students, and on innovative mentoring strategies. Her 2019 book, Teaching Psychology: An Evidence-Based Approach was co-authored with Drs. Jill Grose-Fifer and Patricia Brooks. She is a member of the 39th class of the American Leadership Fellows program in Silicon Valley and serves on the Executive Committee of the Association of Independent California Colleges and Universities.
2022
November 16, 2022
Speaker: Paul Schutz, Branch 35 Membership Director
Topic: “A Dubai Travel Log”
Paul Schutz, our Branch 35 Membership Director, shares his recent tour experience and fascinating sights of the city of Dubai. Known as the Hong Kong of the Middle East, it is a city and Emirate in the United Arab Emirates known for luxury shopping, ultramodern architecture, and a lively nightlife scene. The world’s tallest building is a 2,722 foot, or just over half a mile, tower known as the Burj Khalifa dominating the skyscraper-filled skyline. At its foot lies Dubai Fountain with jets and lights choreographed to music. On artificial islands just offshore is Atlantis, The Palm, a resort with water and marine-animal parks
October 19, 2022
Speaker: Seth Shostak, Senior Astronomer
Topic: “Are Aliens Visiting Earth?”
Seth Shostak claims to have developed an interest in extraterrestrial life at the tender age of ten, when he first picked up a book about the Solar System. This innocent beginning eventually led to a degree in radio astronomy, and now, as Senior Astronomer, Seth is an enthusiastic participant in the SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) Institute’s research programs.
Since 2001, he has been the senior astronomer at the SETI Institute, a not-for-profit organization whose mission is to “explore, understand and explain the origin, nature and prevalence of life in the universe”. SETI Institute, located in Mountain View, California, employs over 50 researchers that study all aspects of the search for life, its origins, the environment in which life develops, and its ultimate fate.
In addition, Seth is keen on outreach activities: interesting the public – and especially young people – in science in general, and astrobiology in particular. He’s co-authored a college textbook on astrobiology and has written three trade books on SETI. In addition, he’s published more than 400 popular articles on science including regular contributions to NBC News MACH, gives many dozens of talks annually, and is the host of the SETI Institute’s weekly science radio show, “Big Picture Science.”
September 21, 2022
Speaker: Mark Marymee, Owner: memoriesman.com
Topic: “Save Your Photos, Share the Memories”
Mark Marymee is a professional photo and film manager serving clients throughout the San Francisco Bay Area. He specializes in helping family collectors and companies restore order to what can become a chaotic mess of photo prints, films and videos, and historical memorabilia.
He began his career as a journalist in Wyoming and the Bay Area and for the next 35 years he worked as a communications director for some of America’s best-known brand-name companies, including the Clorox Company, Wells Fargo and Safeway.com.
Mark’s presentation will explain how de-clutter, organize, preserve and share precious photo, film and video memories for the benefit of our kids, grand-kids and generations to come.
August 17, 2022
Robin Wedell, RN, BSN, FPCNA
Topic: Pump Up Your Heart Health! Your Heart is Counting on You.
Robin Wedell is currently serving as the Director of HeartFit For Life at the Cardiac Therapy Foundation in Palo Alto and has been affiliated with HeartFit For Life since 1992. She has over 35 years of experience working in cardiovascular nursing both in primary and secondary prevention. She has worked as an educational consultant, research nurse, and co-authored publications in the realm of cardiovascular nursing. Robin served as Co-Chair for the Northern California Regional Chapter of the Preventive Cardiovascular Nurses Association, where she was inducted as a Fellow in 2010.
Considered as one of the leading cardiac wellness programs in the nation, HeartFit For Life at the Cardiac Therapy Foundation has helped more than 5,000 members with cardiac disease and related health issues lead healthier, longer, and more vibrant lives.
The Cardiac Therapy Foundation was founded in 1970 as a non-profit organization by Stanford clinicians – Gary Fry, MD, and Kathy Berra, RN, NP, with a vision to be recognized as the leader in cardiac therapy and chronic disease management in the San Francisco Peninsula. For more than 50 years, they have been helping people with cardiac or related health issues or risk factors. Their goal is simple: extend your life!
June 15, 2022
Tom McCalmont, President, McCalmont Engineering
Topic: Solar, Climate, and Policy: Making Sense of Our Energy Future
Tom McCalmont is a successful serial entrepreneur with a passion for proliferating solar power and renewables. He has over forty years’ experience building innovative businesses and technology solutions. He is Cofounder and President of McCalmont Engineering, the highly respected solar engineering firm. McCalmont Engineering has designed over 6 gigawatts of large and utility scale solar and energy storage projects in 35 U.S. states over the past thirteen years, over 5 % of all the solar design projects in the U.S. Tom is also Cofounder and CEO of Paired Power, an innovative product company that has developed and patented solar-powered electric vehicle chargers.
Tom holds 15 U.S. patents and has a demonstrated track record of creatively applying new technology to solving real customer problems. He holds a Masters degree in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University and both Doctor of Science and Bachelor of Science degrees from Muskingum University. Tom is a licensed Professional Engineer, a charter NABCEP-certified Solar PV Installer and a licensed electrical and solar contractor in California. He has driven an EV for over six years (currently a Chevy Bolt) and lives in a 100% solar powered, zero energy home.
May 18, 2022
Mohan Gurunathan
Topic: The Earth on Your Plate: Why Diet Change is Essential to Save Our Planet
April 20, 2022
Andy Danver, SIR Branch 35 Big Sir
Topic: State of the Branch
March 16, 2022
Kenneth P. Vickery, PhD.
Topic: Many Africas – Continent of Contrasts
To many in the West, Africa has often seemed to be the Lost Continent—“lost” in two senses. The first would be lost from view: Many in the west simply don’t hear much or know much about the place and its past. The second would be “lost” in the sense of hopelessly lost: What people in the west do hear seems overwhelmingly negative, dominated by poverty, disease, disasters, violence, and tyranny.
Dr. Kenneth P. Vickery is Associate Professor and Director of Undergraduate Advising in the History Department at North Carolina State. University, where he has taught for almost 30 years. He received his B.A. degree with Phi Beta Kappa honors at Duke University and went on to study sub-Saharan African history at Yale University, where he earned his Ph.D. In 1993, he was awarded a Fulbright fellowship and served as a Fulbright Visiting Associate Professor in the Department of Economic History of the University of Zimbabwe in Harare.
Vickery has a useful set of stories to tell – historical stories from the continent from the past millenium. He starts with his own story – a young graduate student, hitchhiking from Nairobi to Arusha, and collecting stories from a man kind enough to pick him up and from the people he encountered on the trip. He found “people with stories, intertwined with the stories of their ancestors,” and was convinced that there was a life’s work in collecting these stories.
February 16, 2022
Jo Beth Mertens, Emeritus Associate Professor of Economics
Topic: The Economics of Immigration
California has by far the most immigrants of any state in the country. Eleven million immigrants live in our state, representing more than a quarter of the population. Immigrants present the state with both benefits and burdens. Our February speaker will help us understand more about the economics of immigration.
Jo Beth Mertens grew up in Arkadelphia, AR and received her Ph.D. in Economics from Emory University. She was a member of the Economics Dept at Hobart and William Smith Colleges for 20 years, where she taught applied microeconomics, including labor economics, public finance and the economics of sports. She was named New York State Professor of the Year by the Carnegie Foundation in 2005. She has worked as a tax consultant for the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, USAID and US Treasury in over a dozen countries, serving as resident advisor on tax policy and tax administration to the Ministries of Finance of Ukraine (1993) and the Russian Federation (1994.) She resides in New York City and Pocahontas County, WV.
January 19, 2022
Elisabeth Ward, Executive Director, Los Altos History Museum
Topic: The Future of the Past
Elisabeth Ward became the Executive Director of the Los Altos History Museum in 2017 and is focused on implementing a vision of what a local history museum should be as a community resource. She will tell us how she manages a staff of five to create exhibitions and programming in a purpose-built museum and in a historic home. The museum also has an active group of volunteers who strive to fulfill their mission: to make the past relevant to the present and future.
She earned an undergraduate degree and doctorate in Scandinavian languages and literature from the University of California, Berkeley, and a master’s degree in anthropology (with a concentration in museum studies) from Georgetown University. She grew up in Mission Viejo, California, and previously worked as the director of the Scandinavian Cultural Center at Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma, Washington; lecturer in Scandinavian languages at Cal; director of the Vikingaheimar Museum in Iceland; and museum specialist at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History. She is the author of many academic publications and is fluent in Icelandic with a functional knowledge of Norwegian and Spanish.
2021
December 15, 2021
Stan Barkey, Branch 35 Big Sir
Topic: The State of the Branch.
Our December 15th Zoom Meeting is being called “The State of the Branch” because your Branch Executive Committee wants to take this opportunity to celebrate the completion of this most unusual year. We will highlight our various activities and share the way each of them has adapted to the Covid challenges. Some will report winners of competitions and others will share experiences they have had while hiking, biking or gathering for wine tasting or dining.
Included in the meeting will be information about SIR State programs and resources that we are using to enhance our branch activities. Also, there will also drawings for prizes to help keep the members engaged.
November 17, 2021
Dr. Sarah Jacobson, Associate Professor of Economics, Williams College
Topic: Economics of Climate Change
Climate change is the existential threat of the modern era. We know that behaviors of people and firms determine our impact on the environment. How can we use economics to model environmental behavior and to consider how policies can help or hurt the environment? How does cap and trade work and a carbon tax work? Dr. Jacobson will help us understand more on this subject. Dr. Sarah Jacobson is an Associate Professor of Economics at Williams College. She completed her PhD in Economics at Georgia State University and her Bachelor of Science in Engineering at Harvey Mudd College. She is an environmental and behavioral economist who studies environmental regulations and interactions between preferences and institutions, using laboratory experiments, applied theory, and observational data. Themes in Dr. Jacobson’s research include regulatory incentive structures, punishment, deterrence, charity donations, reciprocity, rationality errors, and situations in which social preferences yield inefficient outcomes. She also designs games for teaching topics in environmental economics. Dr. Jacobson engages extensively with efforts to promote diversity, inclusion, and equity in the economics profession. (taken from the Research In Color website at www.researchincolor.org. The Research In Color Foundation (RIC) is an incorporated nonprofit organization that is dedicated to increasing the number of Ph.D. students of color in economics and economics-adjacent disciplines.)
October 20, 2021
Captain Zach Perron, Palo Alto Police Department
Topic: How to Stay Safe and Avoid Becoming a Crime Victim
Captain Zach Perron has worked for the Palo Alto Police Department in one capacity or another since 1994. He currently oversees detectives, traffic, special operations, and animal control. He has authored or overseen virtually all of the Department’s external communications for more than a decade. He will speak to Branch 35 about how to avoid common scams and frauds that tend to target older members of our community, and about the best ways to protect your home and neighborhood from falling victim to crime. Also, learn how to find accurate information about crime statistics, and how you may be surprised to know that crime rates have actually dropped over the past three decades despite a common public perception that it is on the rise.
Captain Perron was born and raised in Palo Alto and is a graduate of Stanford University (B.A., American Studies, 1997) and the Naval Postgraduate School (M.A., Security Studies – Homeland Security and Defense, 2016). His master’s thesis, published in 2016, was a detailed case study analysis that shows the quantifiable benefit to police agencies of two-way engagement on social media.
September 15, 2021
Chuck Sieloff – Co-Chair of the Avenidas Village Advisory Council
Topic: The Growing Challenges of “Aging in Place”
For the first time in its history, America is rapidly headed toward a cross-over point when over-65’s will outnumber under-18’s in our population, and 90% of those older adults would prefer to remain in their own homes as they age. That may sound straightforward, but government statistics indicate that only 10% of those homes meet the minimum requirements for elderly living. In addition, 90% of those older adults live with one or more chronic health conditions and, for many, social isolation is an additional serious risk factor. Clearly, we need to start taking a more proactive approach toward meeting these challenges, both as individuals and as a society.
Chuck Sieloff moved to the Bay Area in 1965 to get his PhD in History from Stanford. Following that, he pursued a career in high tech, spending 30 years at Hewlett-Packard, mostly as an Information Technology Manager. After retiring 20 years ago, Chuck has been involved with a variety of non-profit organizations, including The Institute for the Future, Eastside College Prep, Rocky Mountain Institute, and Avenidas Village, where he currently serves as the Co-Chair of the Avenidas Village Advisory Council.
July 21, 2021
Thomas (Tom) Marshburn, Astronaut
Topic: My Personal Experiences in Space
Dr. Thomas H. Marshburn was selected by NASA in 2004. The North Carolina native is a veteran of two spaceflights, STS‐127 and Expedition 34/35. Prior to becoming an astronaut, Dr. Marshburn served as a Flight Surgeon, assigned to Space Shuttle Medical Operations and to the joint U.S./Russian Space Program and eventually became the Medical Operations Lead for the International Space Station. He is currently in training as Pilot for the NASA SpaceX Crew-3 mission to the ISS scheduled to launch October 2021.
STS-127 was the 23rd flight of the shuttle Endeavour with a primary purpose of delivering research components. When it docked with the ISS on this mission in July 2009, it set a record for the most humans in space at the same time in the same vehicle, the first time thirteen people had been on ISS at any one time.
A Soyuz TMA-07M spacecraft carrying Tom Marshburn and two others blasted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome on December 19, 2012 as part of Expedition 34 which entered into the 13th year of continuous human habitation on the ISS. Some of the research goals for Expedition 34 included investigations into the human cardiovascular system in microgravity, the gravity-sensing systems of fish, and the impact of changes in the sun’s electromagnetic radiation on Earth’s climate.
June 16, 2021
Tanya Peterson, Esq. – Exec. Director, San Francisco Zoological Society
Topic: It’s all happening at the Zoo
2020 not only left our regional wildlife parks struggling to stay financially solvent, but it was also a year that saw Maki, San Francisco Zoo’s 22-year-old ringtailed lemur, get snatched by a thirty-something man — who then apparently left the stolen primate monkeying around near a Daly City daycare. Things, thankfully, are at least looking on the sunnier, less destitution-heavy side of things for the SF Zoo as staff has begun welcoming back general admission guests. Listen to Ms. Peterson tell us more of what is happening at the Zoo.
Tanya McVeigh Peterson is CEO and Executive Director of the San Francisco Zoological Society, the non-profit entity that operates and supports “San Francisco Zoo & Gardens.” Referred to as the 3 Cs, SF Zoo’s mission is to connect all persons with wildlife, inspire caring for nature and advance conservation action. SF Zoo is a 99-acre facility and, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, hosted 900,000 visitors annually. Ms. Peterson has served as CEO since 2008 and as CEO she has led two multi-million capital campaigns, oversees 200 employees, and works with a 50-person Board of Trustees.
Ms. Peterson’s undergraduate studies were at Smith College and University of Southern California, the latter from which she graduated magna cum laude in 1988. Her law degree is from U.C. Hastings College of Law (1991). Prior to her current employment, she practiced law at the international firm of Gibson, Dunn and Crutcher LLP, specializing in antitrust litigation and then joined Hewlett-Packard Company where she was corporate counsel and manager of complex litigations assisting the company with its acquisition of Compaq
May 19, 2021
Jon Haveman, PhD – Exec. Director, National Economic Education Delegation
Topic: The Economics of Autonomous Vehicles
Do you like to drive? Then you’d best get busy enjoying it while you can, because according to Dr. Jon Haveman human-driven vehicles will be a rarity by 2035. They’ll be supplanted by autonomous vehicles. You probably won’t own a self-driving car, you’ll just “hail” one whenever you need it. Dr. Haveman predicts that widespread adoption of autonomous vehicles will lead to many beneficial changes to society, but also to massive employment upheaval as some job categories disappear while new ones are being created.
Dr. Haveman has a reputation for providing audiences with credible economic information that is applicable to their lives. He is an expert on regional economies and local economic development and on the Bay Area Economy in particular. His radio and television appearance include regular interviews on Bay Area television and public radio. A prolific author, he has published extensively on local economic development policy, transportation and security issues at California seaports, business outsourcing, and trade in technology products.
Dr. Haveman holds a Ph.D. and Master of Science in Economics from the University of Michigan and a Bachelor of Science in Economics from the University of Wisconsin.
April 21, 2021
Kevin McCormack, Communications Director, CIRM
Topic: Will Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s Be Cured?
Kevin McCormack is the communications director at California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM), the state’s stem cell agency. The agency was created by voters when they approved Proposition 71 in 2004, and refunded thanks to Proposition 14 in 2020 which gave the agency $5.5 billion to fund stem cell research in California. Kevin is here to tell us what they have done with the money and how it has helped save the lives of children born with a fatal immune disorder, helped people who lost their vision due to a rare disease see again, and helped people battling deadly blood cancers beat the odds. Now CIRM’s goal is to help find ways to turn back the clock against arthritis and other joint crippling conditions, to help find treatments for Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease and other disorders of the brain, and a lot more.
Kevin considers himself to be the official translator for the agency, working to turn complex language about equally complex science into everyday English that anyone can understand. Before joining the agency he spent more than 20 years working as a journalist, most of that in San Francisco at KRON where he was the producer for news focused on healthcare.
March 17, 2021
Angela McConnell: Executive Director, Montalvo Arts Center
Topic: Art In The Times of Chaos
Angela McMconnell will share how deeply the pandemic has impacted the arts as a sector as well as the artists, and how creativity and innovation have given way to inspiring resilience and hope. She will also give a brief history about Montalvo; how and when it was founded, the Lucas Artists Residency, its multidisciplinary programs and thematics, and upcoming projects, programs, and events that they are looking forward to.